KitPlus | Articles

Making the invisible visible

by Charlie Watts Issue 92 - August 2014 September 2014 will see a brand new communication and televisual experience unleashed for University of Portsmouth students within the newly opened Eldon Building. Catherine Harper, Professor and Dean of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) Faculty, and Gary Bown, Principal lecturer, have both made it t...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 01 September 2014

Keeping it real

by Will Strauss Issue 92 - August 2014 With Sky buying into an immersive video start-up, and the BBC trialling content on an Oculus Rift headset, virtual reality could be about to move from simply sets and studios to a whole new realm. Once residing purely in the realms of science fiction and, latterly, video gaming, it appears that virtual reality...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 September 2014

Vision for the future of TV

Issue 92 - August 2014During the Commonwealth Games BBC Research and Development took the opportunity to unveil a range of new trials and public demonstrations as part of its Games showcase. These experiments brought together a wide range of industry partners and are helping to shape BBC R&D’s vision for the future of TV, and included a number of b...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 September 2014

Is the future virtual

by Dick Hobbs Issue 91 - July 2014 Just a couple of days ago, I went to a memorial service for a very nice man called John Wilson. If you have heard of John, it was probably for his work as the chairman of IBC in the 1990s, leading the move from Brighton to Amsterdam, then to an annual event, then to its management by an independent and professiona...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 August 2014

4K at NAB

by Bob Pank Issue 89 - May 2014 The long term NAB veterans will be well aware of just how quickly new technologies can come and go in the television industry. For instance, only a couple of years ago, 3D was still the hot topic, now it has gone quiet, but not altogether gone away. So it is good to report that 4K had another very good NAB, probably...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2014

Object of desire

by Will Strauss Issue 89 - May 2014 If NAB is a decent yardstick, 2014 is all about 4k and why, when and how it might become a mainstream TV proposition. But in amongst all this pixel counting and discussion about higher frame rates, there is a subject that often gets forgotten but definitely deserves a mention, one that is closely linked to the in...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 June 2014

Making 4K mainstream in 2014

by Austin Freshwater Issue 89 - May 2014 4K was one of the hot topics at this years CES. Higher resolutions may be showing more promise as the industry moves on from the latest iteration of 3D, which proved expensive to produce and poorly received by many viewers. However, as we move further into 2014, we continue to see some reticence within the i...

Submitted by Austin Freshwater

Published 01 June 2014

Premier league infrastructure

by Alan Green Issue 88 - April 2014 It is now common practice to cable major sports venues for broadcast operations. It saves time rigging pulling cables in to every camera and commentary position can take a day or more. The efficiency is great for broadcasters it means that the same truck can work at different grounds on consecutive days. As well...

Submitted by Alan Green

Published 01 May 2014

Fixing that inhospitable location shoot

by Harry Amies Issue 88 - April 2014 Say Iran. What do most people think of? Hostage-taking, nuclear programmes, angry mobs, CGI outsourcing, VFX, a multi-million dollar movie industry? If Harry Amies and Amir Rezazadeh of UK based co-producers HarryAmir have anything to do with it itll be the last three. HarryAmir is a UK-based company, that helps...

Submitted by Harry Amies

Published 01 May 2014

Bob Pank looks at the size of 4k

by Bob Pank Issue 86 - February 2014 The television industry has had many new technological eras in recent years. Only two years ago we were still a 3D era; the latest of the many that have surfaced and sunk over the years of cinema, making it recurring fad. Now 4K / UHD is firmly grabbing the attention of equipment manufacturers as well as product...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2014

Dick Hobbs is Counting Pixels

by Dick Hobbs Issue 86 - February 2014 At the start of each year you hear the sound and fury as the technology correspondents of broadcasters and the popular press head off to Las Vegas for CES, the annual exhibition of the Consumer Electronics Association. I have never been: I feel that two trips to Las Vegas a year would count as cruel and unusua...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 March 2014

#TVFUTURES

by Rhiannon Chislett Issue 86 - February 2014 Since I last wrote we have accomplished a lot more work within our projects. In December we submitted our 20-minute documentary about local traditional businesses, which has resulted in achieving distinction grades and we have also progressed dramatically with our IPTV project. Before Christmas we were...

Submitted by Rhiannon Chislett

Published 01 March 2014

Will Strauss looks at 6 reasons why 4k is so special

by Will Strauss Issue 86 - February 2014 4k (or UHD) is everywhere. Whether you want it or not, it is (slowly) permeating the living room - in the form of TV sets - and gradually becoming more commonplace on location and in the studio. Someday soon it will be broadcast in the UK too. As Bob Pank points out on page 56 there are a number of reasons f...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 March 2014

Dick Hobbs questions how it got to be 2014 so soon?

by Dick Hobbs Issue 85 - January 2014 As we get ourselves ready to launch in to the new year, I have a few thoughts to share with you. The first is prompted by a press release which landed in my inbox back in December. IBM to acquire Aspera was the headline. Aspera is a business started by a fearsomely clever mathematician, Michelle Munson. She cam...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 February 2014

Broadcasting predictions for 2014

by David Hochner Issue 85 - January 2014 2013 has seen a huge array of developments within the broadcasting and satellite space ranging from the rise of connected devices, OTT and Smart TVs becoming common place in the home, the emergence of Ultra HD, or 4K as it is commonly known, through to some broadcasters starting their 3D screenings and those...

Submitted by David Hochner

Published 01 February 2014